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~Chapter 38~
Now Lily felt responsible for stopping Blake from sending the letter as it was.
“You can’t send it like this. The newspapers will be on fire for a year. It’ll be an even bigger scandal than when that count gave his wife’s necklace to his mistress, and then got shot by his wife’s lover ten years ago.”
“What kind of mess is that story?”
“That’s the kind of thing that makes the news. Anyway, I’m against it.”
Blake looked very displeased.
It made sense. Count Fox hadn’t replied at all, so he must be burning up with anxiety by now.
Blake wanted to provoke him, pour oil on the fire, and make his intentions clear.
But honestly, he just wanted to mess with the Count. Damn that Count anyway.
“Isn’t it better if things move fast? If he gets really angry, he’ll file a lawsuit faster. Don’t you want the divorce settled soon?”
“You’ve gone too far. He’ll get high blood pressure and collapse. If he dies, your plan won’t work, you know.”
“Your husband?”
Lily looked up at his sudden words. Blake demanded again, even more sharply:
“Your husband?”
“He’s not my husband, is he?”
“Not ex-husband?”
“Oh, of course, he’s my ex-husband. But technically, we’re still married on paper, and that’s the problem.”
Blake spun the quill in his fingers, grumbling.
“I get what you mean. But don’t call him your husband in front of me. It’s annoying.”
Lily lifted her head and stared across the desk at him.
Her blue eyes, mature beyond her years, reflected Blake’s face.
He noticed her gaze. At first, he tried to ignore it and stare at the desk, but it made him uncomfortable. After a moment, he looked up and met her eyes—then quickly looked away again, fidgeting with his fingers.
“Anyway…”
After seeing him act flustered, Lily just looked away as if it was nothing.
The brief silence felt strangely long to Blake.
“I understand how picky you are. I’ll have to watch my words even more than I do with the Empress Dowager. Anyway, let’s revise the letter a bit. I don’t know much about the law, but it’s best not to write anything that could be used against us in court later.”
Lily carefully corrected the letter to make it more formal. Even after all her edits, Blake’s sarcastic tone came through.
“If you agree, how about we send it like this?”
Blake still looked unhappy but took a new sheet of paper and copied her corrections.
While he wrote, Lily wandered around the office, sipping the apple-scented tea Gianna had saved just for her.
She sat by the window and watched Blake’s back.
He had the kind of broad shoulders and muscular neck that would make women stare.
Noble ladies might say he looked rough, but everyone knew there was a secret club where they only hired waiters with bodies like his.
‘He really is a good man. Not just in looks—he’s stubborn and reckless and sometimes ruder than a pirate, but still the best person I’ve ever known.’
If the saying that happiness comes after misfortune is true, then meeting Blake must be her reward for a hard life.
If he really saved her, she could never repay him.
She didn’t have money or a way to thank him properly, but maybe there was something else—something Blake would like.
‘He probably needs a wife, for an heir. If I married him, he’d be pleased—even if I’m divorced, a child with my blood would likely be a shaman, which would be good for him.’
But for Lily, marriage had always been a nightmare.
She kept watching his back, noticing the simple but well-fitted white shirt.
‘When I gave my ex-husband the divorce papers, I never wanted to hear the word marriage again.’
But now, thinking of marriage with Blake didn’t make her feel sick.
She wasn’t really planning to propose, but the thought surprised her.
‘He really is an amazing man… in business, in strength, in everything.’
She caught herself smiling and touched her lips in disbelief. It felt strange.
Meanwhile, Blake could feel her eyes on his back.
The office was warm from the fireplace, but he still felt cold sweat.
‘Why is she staring? What is she thinking? Why did she just smile? Does my shirt look weird?’
He’d even had his hair styled that morning, just in case.
He checked his shirt’s seam, worried it was torn. It wasn’t.
He was still distracted by these thoughts when Lily, at the window, noticed something strange outside.
She saw the knights scraping snow on the ground to draw a huge heart.
‘What are they doing?’
Before she could get a good look, the knights dove to cover it.
“Miss Lily has appeared! Hide everything!”
A strange human figure in the heart quickly vanished.
Lily saw the knights salute, grinning awkwardly, and turned back to the office.
The figure looked oddly like her, but… it was just another peaceful winter day.
The letter, now a “bomb,” was sent by train and coach through the government post office, and finally arrived at Count Fox’s estate.
If only the Count had read it himself, nothing might have happened.
Blake thought the Count would explode with anger over a letter saying, “I won’t return your wife.”
But Count Fox was actually weaker than he looked.
Lily knew this about him.
“What if, instead of just a letter, we send a package with food? If the recipient is a noble, they’ll check for poison and the post office will have the right to read the letter.”
That way, even if Count Fox tried to hide it, Blake’s message would get out.
“You think the staff will read the letter? What if they don’t bother?”
“Maybe sometimes, but if it’s from the Duke’s territory, I’m sure they’ll check it carefully.”
Their plan worked. A post office worker leaked the letter to the press for a big bribe and then quit his job.
It didn’t take long for every newspaper to get a copy.
“Exclusive! Missing Countess Fox is reportedly staying at Winter Castle—”
Blake’s letter reached the tabloids almost as soon as it reached the Count.
Now, even the big newspapers ran the story on the front page.
“Count Fox knew everything from the start? A maid says, ‘The madam left him divorce papers and ran away…’”
“A complicated love triangle between three people?”
“Duke Uffus says he’ll be guardian to a married woman—big scandal expected.”
The news quickly swept through high society and everyone was talking about it.
